The history of Twinkies in five minutes

Hostess is a household brand in America, and Twinkies are something that American youths are extremely used to seeing and buying. The most recognisable Twinkie is the golden sponge cake with a cream filling. They’re often sold individually or in boxes of ten. Twinkie’s were brought to life for the first time in 1930 when James A. Dewar filled a shortcake with a sugar and cream mixture. Originally, they were filled with a banana cream and the name came from a billboard which announced the words “Twinkle Toe Shoes”.

During the Second World War, the banana cream was replaced by vanilla cream because of the shortage of bananas during that awful time. The original flavour has been seen in some limited variations of the snack cake; among others.

Back in 2012, Twinkies were almost lost for good when the company went bankrupted. Thankfully, under new leadership, the Twinkie recipe came back better than ever. Unfortunately, the company is much smaller now and thousands of people lost their jobs during that year.

Before Hostess filed for bankruptcy, their most popular snack cakes were reduced in size. Twinkies now contain just 135 kilocalories at 38.5 grams of cake, while the original Twinkies contained 150 kilocalories for their 42.5 grams. The newer Twinkies also have a longer shelf life of 45 days, rather than 26.

The running gag regarding Twinkies never going out of date is a myth, and although it’s hilarious to see in media, Twinkies should be eaten by their date.

There have been many different flavours of Twinkies since their conception; including a number of limited edition variations. Some such flavours have been 2018’s Strawberry edition, 2017’s Chocolate Peanut Butter edition, and quite recently, the S’cream edition has reappeared. For 2019, we’ve seen Moonberry, Pumpkin Spice, and Mint Chocolate come to our shelves throughout the summer and autumn seasons.

There have been over 20 different kinds of Twinkie snack cakes since 2011, which have included Twinkies with different cake flavours, as well as Twinkies with different cream fillings. Twinkies can be found all over, but it’s easiest to order them online through American candy websites or through subscription boxes.

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